


Why did I agree to this again?

by vmeemo



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Everyone else is there, Gen, and there sorta is pearlina, but it barely has any impact, even then you might need to squint, just not as important or as involved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-19 08:35:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22208170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vmeemo/pseuds/vmeemo
Summary: Pearl ponders why she's over at the new Shifty Station playing Turf War at 4 in the morning.
Kudos: 6





	Why did I agree to this again?

‘Why did I agree to this again?’

That was the thought running through Pearl’s head as she stands on the helicopter flying around Marina’s latest Shifty Station at 4am.

‘Well, now about 4:30 now that I actually look at the time.’

Pearl’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the starting beats of _Fly Octo Fly,_ and the sounds of weapons being fired. Pearl, looking out the chopper, sees 8 and 3 on one side, 4 and-

‘Callie’s here? Why is Callie here? How did 4 even convince her to come anyway?’

‘Whatever. All I gotta do is do this one match for 8, then I can go back to bed. Maybe snuggle closer to Marina while I’m at it…’

Right. 8. My favourite person (second to Marina, of course). Sweet girl. And the reason _why_ I’m here, awake at 4:30 in the morning, standing on this helicopter.

All because she sent me a text, with the phrase “We need you to scream for us, can you come to the Station to do that?” My response;

“ _8, it’s 4 in the morning, why are you even awake anyway? Better yet, why not just do a different Station if you wanted a match?”_

_“Because they closed the other stages until they could finalize them for local matches. The only one that was ‘open’, was the new one. But, without the Killer Whale and the bombs, it’s just an oversized Blackbelly without as much half-pipes.”  
_

Right. The localizing.

Pearl remembers that conversation wit their manager two days after the splatfest. The idea was that because splatfests were over, no more shifty station variants would be made, so they would just reuse them for turf wars. The only problem with that, according with the manger, was that because the stations were too ‘gimmicky’ (not exactly what they said but semantics), they couldn’t be inserted into normal rotations. The lack of ranked variants didn’t help the issue either.

Marina suggested that they could be used for private battles, and added in the splatfest ink colours be usable as well, considering those are never going to be used again. The manager agreed, but then brought up the latest issue: The newest one, the one dubbed as M.C Princess Diaries by Marina. Because that stage is reliant on Whale and the Hyperbombs, it can’t be released until a solution for making it public can be found.

The two of us were given day offs to recover a bit more energy after the splatfest, and on day two of that vacation, 8 texted me at 4 in the morning wanting me to scream for them.

Knowing 8 doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, I texted back, _“fine, but ONLY the whale. I don’t wanna wake Reena up and make her set up the bombs.”_

Luckily, she was alright with it. And that’s why I’m standing here, at 4:30 in the morning, at this shifty station.

Looking at the time, the match is almost over. ‘Almost time. For both this to be over, and so I can go back to sleep.’

Pearl jumps off the chopper, and as she descends, she takes the time to look at the area around her. The map is covered in ink, so covered she doesn’t know who’s winning currently. Makes the results more interesting at least.

When she reaches the bottom, she sees everyone fighting for the platform. 8 and 3 vs. 4 and Callie. Who will come out on top? Who will get to fire the killer whale? And in the last moment, she sees 8 come up to her, absolute determination in her eyes. It’s time.

8 aims… and then the sound of a earsplitting booyah, and the firing sound of the whale echoes throughout the area. Then the buzzer goes off, signifying the end of the match.

——–

Silence was the only thing present on the way back to Inkopolis. Everyone was tired, from both the match, and the fact that they did this match at 4 in the morning, with the match ending at about 5am.

Everyone’s sitting on the helicopter, 4 and Callie talking how fun and tense the match was, 3 leaning on 8′s shoulder, pasted out from the match.

8… 8 was looking down at the ground, avoiding Pearl’s gaze. More specifically, “The Look” Pearl was giving her, the look that says ‘We are talking about this, and you can’t stop me.’

“So, 8… Why, did you think waking everybody up at 4am to do this was a great idea? Like, I’m not mad, just wondering why you thought 4am was the best time to host a match.”

8 looks up to Pearl’s face, and opened her mouth to say something, when Pearl cut her off.

“Actually, we’ll talk about this later. I can see the bags under your eyes. You need sleep. 3′s sleeping on your shoulder, and I’m pretty sure 4 and Callie wanna go back to bed as well. Speaking of which, how did 4 ask Callie to do this anyway?”

“Well, apparently they were doing a ‘girls night out’ or something? They were doing an ‘all-night marathon’ of watching movies. I texted them asking if they were up for a turf war match at the station. I think they were too tired to properly process what I was asking and just went along with it.”

“Really?” Pearl said, “And 3? How’d you get her into this?”

“She had insomnia. Couldn’t sleep. Figured that a Turf War match would ‘knock the insomnia out of me’. Her words, not mine.”

Pearl chuckled a bit. “Yeah that does sound like something 3 would say.”

“Then I’m guessing you called me about me doing the stage?”

8 nods. “That was the idea, yes. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting you to actually do it. I did kinda called you out of impulse after all.”

“Well,” Pearl says “what’s done is done. Just make sure to think it through next time alright?”

“Alright. I’ll be sure do that. When that next time happens at least.” 8 said, trying to hold back a yawn.

“Oh man, you are tired.” Pearl said, yawning as well “Well, good thing we’re almost back at Inkopolis. We both can go back to sleep then. Cod knows I need some.”

“As do I… Like you said, we’re almost back home.”

“Maybe you’ll have to carry 3 back to your apartment if she’s still sleeping. Won’t that be a surprise for her? Maybe you’ll even give her a little kiss on the forehead.”

8 blushed, “Please don’t joke about that.”

Pearl raised a brow in mock, “Who said I was?”

8 continued to be a blushing mess the rest of the trip back.

——–

(Back at Pearl’s mansion…)

‘Finally, I’m back home.’ Pearl thought to herself as she walks through her front door.

‘And now, go get back to bed. Snuggle back up with Marina. And NOT wake up for another few hours. How long I’ll be out, who even knows anymore.’

Pearl’s thoughts stop once she reaches her bedroom door. Looking at the time on her phone, it shows that it’s about 6:37 am.

“Mehhh… Still early to be awake… But soon.” Pearl mumbled to herself, keeping her voice low so she doesn’t accidentally wake Marina up.

Slowly, she opens the door, sees her end goal: the soft heaven known to cephalopods called a bed. And Marina, the person she wants to crawl up beside. But also sleep.

She definitely needs that.

Slowing closing the door behind her, she slowly takes off her clothes, puts her pyjamas on, tiptoes over to the bed, lifts the blanket, and just nudges slightly closer to Marina. Pearl slides her hands above and under Marina’s sides, hugging her.

And like that, Pearl’s out like a light.


End file.
